People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 31 December 2008

Return of Avian Flu

PREVENTION NOT CURE IS REMEDY

By Radhakrishna Rao

The dreaded avian flu has resurfaced with a vengeance, posing a serious threat to the flourishing poultry industry in Assam and parts of adjoining West Bengal. It was in November 2007 that the prevalence of this much-feared viral disease affecting domestic poultry was first detected in the outskirts of Guwahati. From there, the disease sneaked into parts of West Bengal, throwing the over Rs.40, 000-crore poultry sector of the State into turmoil.

It led to some panic selling among poultry farmers and traders started taking advantage of the situation by forcing them to sell broilers at un-remunerative prices. In fact, the waves of fear caused by the spread of disease in Assam and West Bengal have led to poultry prices dropping by around 25% across the country. In addition, there is a fear that the spread of the disease could also affect the export prospects of the poultry industry.

Not surprisingly many countries have put India under their “watch list” insofar as buying poultry products are concerned. However, the biggest relief is that so far no country has officially banned import of our poultry products. Significantly, the country’s export of poultry products has increased from Rs.2870-million during 2004-05 to Rs.3500-million during 2007-08. The major chunk of the revenue for Indian poultry products was from West Asian countries, Japan and Germany. With an annual poultry production of two-million tonnes India is ranked fifth among the largest poultry producing countries.

More than half a million birds, including chicken and ducks have already been culled in over seven locations of Assam and the local administration has already paid a compensation of Rs.1.45-crore to the poultry farmers. Meanwhile, in a related development about 60 chicks seized from the Railway Police in Orissa, while being transported from West Bengal were culled in Rourkela. This was the second such culling incident in Orissa after a thousand-odd birds, transported into the State in a passenger bus were culled near Balasore.

Unfortunately, the bad news of the avian flu resurfacing in Assam came in less than three weeks after India was considered free from this disease, which has the potential to spread to humans. Though still not a global pandemic, avian flu is known to have killed around 300 people since 2003. Experts specializing in poultry diseases have pointed out that the H5NI virus, which is responsible for the avian flu and kills poultry animals also manages to exchange genetic material between species of specific viruses.

As a matter of fact, the severity of the disease affecting humans is determined by the state of the immune system. However, there is no effective cure to treat the disease, the symptoms of which include, fever, cough, sore throat,  muscle pain, conjunctivitis and in some cases breathing complications and pneumonia. Oseltamivir, commercially marketed under the brand name Tamiflu helps in inhibiting the spread of virus, but the World Health Organisation is uncertain about the drug’s effectiveness.

According to a study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the H5 NI bird flu virus “has not only become more contagious to humans but has managed to persist in parts of Asia, Africa and probably even Europe,” and warns that it has the potential to trigger a human influenza pandemic.

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is of the opinion that the unhygienic conditions in the poultry farms of Assam  was most likely the cause for the out break of avian flu. Apparently it had warned the Assam Government in June 2008 about the disease surfacing again but regrettably it wasn’t taken seriously. The H5NI virus thus affected 120 villages spread across the seven districts of the State. Like the popular adage, of bolting the stable after the horses have left, the Assam Government decided to set up an expert committee to hopefully prevent a similar outbreak of the disease in future. On another front, its Forest Department has decided to monitor the migratory birds visiting the State during this winter.

Recall, that the WHO had termed the outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal in January 2007 as the worst-ever case reported in India. Over four million birds had then been culled. The reason given was that the viral strain causing the avian flu spreads with stunning rapidity, and the best preventive measure was to immediately cull the domesticated birds on a largescale. It goes without saying that medical researchers are now concerned that the H5NI virus could acquire genetic strength” to facilitate its spread from humans to humans in the long run.

A disquieting feature of bird flu is that there is no fool-proof protection against it through vaccination. This is so because no one is certain as to what shape the virus would assume after mutation period. “Viral disease such as avian influenza does not recognize boundaries. The development of an indigenous vaccine, however, could go a long way towards tackling its threat effectively” according to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Apparently, it has been seen that H5NI virus flourishes and causes fatalities in areas where humans are in close touch with domesticated birds, such as chickens and fowls. At the same time, the FAO is of the firm opinion that properly cooked poultry and eggs are safe to consume. However, as a precautionary measure, partially cooked poultry and raw eggs need to be avoided. This is so because eggs can carry H5NI virus both on the outside and the inside.

”People need to be informed about the importance of basic hygiene, notably washing hands after touching poultry and disinfecting boots or shores  before entering or leaving a poultry farm” is  FAO advice. Even then, oweverk, How there remains the concern that mass culling of birds could put people at risk of acquiring the virus. And, as only a small percentage of the population is aware of the dangers of bird flu, it is time we educate the public and launch an intensified awareness campaign about the do’s and don’ts. Why wait for another episode? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 28 November 2008

The Divine Religion

SWAMI DAYANAND, ARYA SAMAJ & VEDAS

By Dr. Prashanta Kumar Sahoo

A small boy of 14, Mulshankar was asked by his father, Amba Shankar to keep night vigil on Sivaratri. The heart of this little boy was filled with eagerness to see god Siva in a bodily form.  He remained awake all through the night. But to his utter astonishment a rat climbed up the idol and ate away the offerings. 

This trifling incident had a very strong influence on Mulshankar’s life.  It became a turning point.  He became skeptical of idol worship.  He was very thoughtful and religious by nature.  But he could not satisfy his spiritual thirst with the prevailing religious practices.  So he left his home in search of the real Siva and the real religion.

He wandered among the sadhus in different parts of India.  But he could not find any formula or way to realize God.  Everywhere he saw hypocrisy, not true religion.  He was deeply disappointed.   At last he met Swami Virajanand who was an ocean of Sanskrit learning. Mulshankar became his disciple. Swami Virajanand filled his heart with vast Vedic knowledge.

The skepticism was gone and Mulshankar developed a staunch faith in the Vedas and God.  Swami Virajanand convinced his disciple satisfactorily that idolatry was not allowed in the Vedas and the real Vedic religion was quite different from and much purer and sublimer than what had passed for orthodox Hinduism down the ages through the corrupting influence of time.

After the completion of his Vedic studies Mulashankar became Swami Dayanand and set out to resurrect the divine Vedic religion and preach it to the mankind. His anti-idolatry preaching evoked unprecedented opposition from orthodox Hindus. Once even his life was in danger in Varanasi.  But his incessant preaching all over India had its effect at last; people began to be convinced that Swami Dayanand’s interpretation of the Vedas and the Vedic religion was correct and that idoltry was not permissible in the ancient religion based on the Vedas, the Arya Dharma.

Swami Dayanand founded the Arya Samaj on April 7, 1875 in Bombay.  “Arya Samaj” is a Sanskrit compounded of two words ‘Arya’ and ‘Samaj’. ‘Arya’ means a righteous man, high-souled, a man possessed of noble qualities.  ‘Samaj’ means a society or organization. Thus, ‘Arya Samaj’ means a society of persons who mean to be good and to make others good. Swami Dayanand laid down the following ten principles of the Arya Samaj:

1) Of all true knowledge and whatever is known from knowledge, the primary cause is God; 2) God is an embodiment of truth; intelligence and bliss; and without form, all-powerful, just, kind, unborn, infinite, unchangeable, beginningless, incomparable, support of all, lord of all, all-pervading, omniscient, undeteriorable, immortal, fearless, eternal, holy and Creator of the Universe.  He alone is worthy of worship; 3) the Vedas are the books of all true knowledge.  It is the paramount duty of all Aryas to read them, to teach them, to hear them and to preach them; 4) we should be ever ready to accept truth and renounce untruth; 5) everything should be done according to Dharma, that is, after considering what is truth and what is untruth;

6) the chief object of the Arya Samaj is to do good to the world, that is, to make physical, spiritual and social improvement; 7) we should treat all with love and justice according to their deserts (what they deserve); 8) we should dispel ignorance and diffuse knowledge; 9) nobody should remain contended with his personal progress; one should count the progress of all as his own and; 10) everyone should consider himself as bound in obeying social and all benefiting rules, but everyone is free in matters pertaining to individual well-being. 

The four Vedas – the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Samaveda and the Atharva Veda are the basis of the Arya Samaj and Vedic religion. The Arya Samaj believes that the Vedas are not only the oldest religious books available, but the oldest, older than humanity and revelationary in character.  They were originally revealed by God to the four rishis Agni, Vayu, Aditya and Angiras in the beginning of the world and from them they have come down to us through a chain of innumerable rishis. 

The Vedas are an independent authority on points of religion which derive sanction directly from God. But other scriptures are believable only so far as they are in consonance with the Vedas.

The following sacred books are accepted by the Arya Samaj as authoritative: the Brahmana; Aitareya Brahmana; Satapatha Brahmana; Katha Aitareya, Taittiriya, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya Chhandogya, Brihadaranyaka, and Svetasvatra, and six Angas: Siksa or orthography, Kalpa or rituals, Vyakarna or grammar, Nirukta or word-study, Chhanda or metres and Jyotis or astronomy. Also accepted by the Arya Samaj are the six Upangas: the Nyaya or rhetoric of Gotama, the Sankhya of Kapila, the Vaisesika or Kanada, the Yoga of Patanjali, the Purva Mimansa of Jaimini and Uttar Mimansa or Vedanta of Vyasa; Manusmriti or code of Manu; Griha Sutras or codes of ceremonials like Paraskara, Gobhil, Asvalayana and Apastamba; and last of all Swami Dayanand’s commentaries on the Vedas and other books including the Satyarthaprakasa.

The Arya Samaj does not accept the authority of the eighteen Puranas and the Upa-Puranas where the spirit is anti-Vedic.  For the Arya Samaj, God is one and the plurality of governor of the Universe is an absurdity. God also does not incarnate as coming into flesh implies weakness. Arya Samaj looks upon God as the great controller of laws which govern the Universe.

The Arya Samaj branches have been established in a large number of countries all over the world since 1875.  They have been engaged in preaching the divine Vedic religion to human beings in different parts of the world. Thus, Swami Dayanand’s effort to resurrect the ancient and pure Vedic religion for the benefit of mankind has been bearing fruit.---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

SCIENCE SPECIAL

New Delhi, 22 November 2008

India Over The Moon

ISRO EYES OTHER PLANETS

By Radhakrishna Rao

The successful insertion of India’s first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 launched on 22 October into the critical lunar orbit after a series of challenging maneouvers has come as a shot in the arm for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).As many lunar probes of leading space-faring nations including USA and Russia were lost during the process of insertion into lunar orbit where the gravity of the earth and moon cancels each other.

Against this backdrop, India’s success in the first attempt testifies to the excellence of our space scientists and technologists who left nothing to chance while nudging Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit. The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) onboard Chandrayaan-1 has already transmitted beautiful imageries of the earth and the moon.

Buoyed up by the success of Chandrayaan-1 mission, ISRO has now set its sights on far-off planets the exploration of which not long back was the exclusive domain of advanced industrialized countries. After the moon, it is now the sun for ISRO which has unveiled an ambitious plan to launch a satellite mission designed to probe in depth the dynamics of the solar corona, the outermost and most active region of the sun.

Named Aditya, the Indian solar mission will study the dynamics of the solar corona and its impact on atmosphere and ionosphere. This first Indian solar probe aimed at studying the coronal mass ejection and associated space weather processes is expected to provide important information on solar activity conditions.

Capable of observing the corona in both visible and near infrared bands, Aditya meaning Sun in Sanskrit is planned to be launched well in time for the next high solar activity period during 2012. The last solar maximum took place in 1989.

The ISRO has also hinted that it is well equipped to send a probe to the Red Planet, Mars. The ISRO Chairman G.Madhavan Nair revealed that inputs for the Mars mission are awaited from the country’s scientific community. This would help give a specific shape to the proposed I Mars probe. In all probability, ISRO would go in for an orbiter to explore Mars which is expected to be the next outpost of the human civilization.

According to S.Ramakrishnan, Projects Director at India’s largest space establishment, Thiruvananthapuram’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) the Mars probe studies have already started and the three-stage cryogenic fuel-driven Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) could carry a one tone heavy spacecraft to Mars. ISRO has also a well conceived plan for exploring the inner asteroid belt and comets.

Meanwhile, as a follow up to Chandryaan-1, ISRO has initiated work on the Chandrayaan-II mission which will be a lander/rover mission. The Rs.42,000m Chandrayaan-II, which has received the green signal from the Central Government is planned to be launched during 2011-12.  It will be launched by means of a GSLV flight.

However, unlike the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the Chandrayaan-II probe will be a joint Indo-Russian mission. Russia will provide the lander/rover and India will build the main spacecraft. The rover equipped with wheels will land on the lunar surface and perform the in situ chemical analysis of the collected rock and soil samples. The data will subsequently be transmitted to the main spacecraft.

Like its predecessor, Chandrayaan-II is expected to accommodate foreign payloads along with Indian instrumentation systems for studying various aspects of the moon. “We are looking at having a soft-landing for Chandrayaan-II instead of a hard landing .We should be working on technologies that will be part of the proposed moon base. If we were to become a developed country by 2020, it will be crucial for us to develop such technologies” asserted M.Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-1 mission.

Meanwhile, ISRO scientists are looking at the possibility of going in for a sample return mission to the moon after the completion of the Chandrayaan-II project. But the proposal is still in an embryonic stage.

However, Chairman Nair had made it clear that for the time being a manned mission to the moon is not on ISRO’s radar. He pointed out that a project for launching a manned flight to the moon would be taken up only if it was fully justified. Adding that for such a challenging mission ISRO would need to develop many new and novel technologies including a gigantic space booster.

Interestingly, China has hinted that it is working towards sending a manned mission to the moon by 2020. As such, ISRO could be under pressure to pursue a project for a manned mission to the earths nearest celestial neighbor.

Of course, India’s plan for sending a manned vehicle near the earth’s orbit by 2015 is slowly assuming a concrete shape. Nair asserted that efforts were on to put in place facilities to realize the manned flight dream.

As part of the manned mission, ISRO in tie-up with the Bangalore-based Institute of Aviation Medicine, under the Indian Air Force is working towards setting up an advanced training facility to help future Indian astronauts withstand the rigors of space flight. This facility will come up on over 100 acres land on Bangalore’s outskirts.

To complement this, a crew management facility is also to be set-up at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota Island on India’s eastern coast. “This will be the last-minute training facility for astronauts,” said SDSC’s Director MC Dathan.

On another front, also on the anvil is a third launch pad at SDSC to support the manned mission. Currently, the SDSC has two launch pads. The Chandrayaaan-1 was launched from the second launch pad of SDSC.

While ISRO has several technologies already available for the manned mission, there would be need to develop many innovative technologies to ensure fool-proof life support system, safety, reliability and an escape system for the crew.

According to the Indian Space Department’s latest Annual Report the manned mission aimed to build and demonstrate the capability for carrying humans to a low earth orbit and their safe return to earth. The programme now envisages developing a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two or three crew members around the 400km earth orbit and their safe return to earth. --- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)

HEALTH SPECIAL

New Delhi, 14 November 2008

Stem Cell Research

BOON FOR DISEASE CURE

By Radhakrishna Rao

The election of Barack Obama as the American President holds out hope of clearing the hurdles in the way of stem cell research which has the potential to evolve innovative treatment strategies for many of the hitherto incurable diseases afflicting humanity.

For the much-despised Bush Administration, out to please the fanatical Christian fundamentalist groups in the USA, had put roadblocks in the way of the highly beneficial stem cell research. His autocratic decision to provide federal funding only to stem cell lines created from the human embryo before August 2001 was a reflection of his right-wing ideology steeped in obscurantist religious beliefs.

Certainly, morality and ethics had little to do with Bush’s decision on stem cell research. However, with a down-to-earth Obama in the White House, stem cell researchers are hoping for better and brighter days ahead. For Obama has made his commitment to remove obstacles in the way of  stem cell research which holds the hope of alleviating human suffering.

Meanwhile, American researchers have zeroed in on a new group of stem cells capable of differentiating into heart muscle known as cardiomyocytes. These stem cells located in the outermost layer of the heart have the potential to play a crucial role in regenerating injured heart tissues. “In heart failure, you lose cardiomyocytes. So the only way to reverse heart failure is to make more of these cells,” says a researcher at Children’s Hospital in Boston who is also a pediatric cardiologist

On another front, a US-based bio-technology company has evolved a novel technique to create stem cell lines without destroying the human embryos. This path-breaking development, claims the company could be an effective solution to the controversy over the ethical and moral issues involved in various aspects of stem cell research. “This will make it far more difficult to oppose the ongoing stem cell research” asserted a researcher of the Advanced Cell Technology based in California.

Besides, the company revealed that it had been successful in turning the clock back on skin cells and transforming them into stem cells, the building blocks of human tissues and organs. It elatedly observed that this is the Holy Grail ---- to be able to take a few skin cells from a patient’s cheek and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory.

 Interestingly, the use of the skin will ultimately allow doctors and medical researchers to create stem cells with a specific patient’s genetic code. Indeed, this technique would eventually obviate the risk of the body rejecting transplanted tissue or organs.

Further, it could also result in the easy and abundant availability of research material used to test new drugs and understand the dynamics of diseases and disorders like cancer and diabetes. Moreover, stem cells  are not only capable of replicating endlessly but also get transformed into one of the more than 200 cell types found in the human body.

 In India, the Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute has pioneered an innovative stem cell therapy for treating visual disorders. This unique treatment regimen involves extracting a piece of limbal tissue from the healthy eye of the patient and grafting it into the diseased eye. Significantly, the Institute has over 400 limbal stem cell transplant surgeries to its credit, a world record. “Even after so many cases, we consider the process as an extended treatment,” stated a medical researcher at the institute.

On its part, the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has successfully used stem cell lines for treating damaged heart muscles of those affected by one of the many cardiac disorders. In Bangalore’s Manipal Hospital stem cell treatment has been tried to set right spinal cord injuries with some degree of success. The Chennai-based Lifeline Institute of Stem Cell Therapy and Research too has reported success in treating spinal cord injuries with stem cell treatment.

All said and done, putting stem cell therapy to large scale use would need further trials and fine-tuning of the procedures.  Specially, as in most cases researchers prefer what is called an autologus mode where stem cells are taken from the patient themselves with a view to avoid rejection involved in transplantation procedures.

In addition, the concept of stem cell banking is catching on in India, wherein the stem cells of a new born child are stored for possible future use. The Chennai-based Life Cell is a pioneer in the umbilical cord blood stem cell banking. Pointed out its Director, “Cord blood stem cells can be used to treat more than 70 diseases. The research is at a point where if we can include diabetes and heart diseases also where the chance of them being used could be as high as one in one hundred.”

Given that the stem cells, described as the versatile building blocks of the human body, remain undifferentiated in the embryonic stage. However, they later develop and evolve into specialized tissues that go on to form the blood, bone and muscles. Because they are endowed with a tremendous potential to replicate themselves, stem cells are considered ideal for fixing various disorders in a patient.

In distinct contrast to the situation in US, Britain continues to encourage research into the human embryonic stem cell under a tightly regulated environment. The latest instance of this is the permission granted for using animal eggs to produce hybrid embryos.

In a major breakthrough, researchers have been able to demonstrate that mouse embryonic stem cells can be deployed to predict human breast cancer risk with a high degree of success. In the US researchers have been able to coax human embryonic stem cells to transform themselves into three specific heart cell types.

In India, a number of research institutions including the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology are active in stem cell research and its application in health care. Sources in the New Delhi-based Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) pointed out that stem cell research and its clinical applications would be promoted in the country in view of its tremendous potential in modern therapeutic and bio-medical research.--- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)